People of the Port

When she was three years old, Nirva LaFortune fled Haiti with her parents to escape the violence of the Duvalier dictatorship. The family of eight settled into a one-bedroom apartment in Providence, Rhode Island, seeking safety, security and a better future.

Raised in Providence’s Southside and later Washington Park community, where her parents still live, LaFortune’s family experienced a different kind of injustice. The Washington Park neighborhood sits with Roger Williams Park on its west side and the Providence River to the east. Separating the community from the river is a highly industrialized region, including; a wastewater treatment plant, a chemical manufacturer and multiple port terminals.

The community began developing residentially in the late 1800s and continued through the 1940s. After the world wars, the Port of Providence became a working waterfront, including many war-related businesses. This industrial increase also drove demand for family housing units. Today, the community is a working-class neighborhood of about 10,000 residents.

The heavy, port-related industry has taken a toll on its neighbors. LaFortune’s little brother was born in 1990. Before the age of five, he would spend almost a month in the hospital every year due to severe asthmatic reactions. There are “people who haven’t smoked in their lives that are experiencing these conditions,” LaFortune says. “And it’s completely inequitable.”

• Though Rhode Island is the smallest state, it has the 9 ^th  highest prevalence of asthma in the nation, according to the  Climate Justice Plan .
• The problem is most concentrated in Providence, and particularly in low-income neighborhoods of the city, which are experiencing some of the highest childhood asthma rates in the state and New England.
• All 11 of the Providence polluters listed in the EPA’s  Toxics Release Inventory Program  are within the city’s 02905 ZIP code.

Such injustices, also known as environmental racism, are not uncommon in Providence, according to the city’s Climate Justice Plan. Neighborhoods near the port, polluting industries and highways have the highest rates of poverty and nonwhite populations in the city. They enjoy fewer trees. Their children suffer higher rates of asthma.

Now climate change threatens to worsen the inequities. But LaFortune, today a Providence City Council Member representing the city’s third ward, is determined that it doesn’t have to be this way.

The impacts of climate change are exacerbated at a waterfront port defined by heavy industry. Since 1930, the sea level has risen over 10 inches at the Newport tide gauge. In addition, predicted change in storm frequency and intensity adds to the risk of significant impact on the community. Over three days, Rhode Island received between six and ten inches of rain, known today as the “great flood of 2010”. The mass rainfall, mixed with heavy storms from prior weeks, led to state-wide flooding. Submerged basements. Drowned-out streets. Highway shutdowns. Significant infrastructure damage caused business closures and required millions of dollars in repairs.

Dr. Austin Becker, associate professor and chair of marine affairs at the University of Rhode Island, notes that most of the petroleum products that are used in Rhode Island, Connecticut and parts of Massachusets pass through the Port of Providence, which creates a critical economic staple in the community. “This isn't just a port problem, this is a societal problem,” Becker says. Because the community is reliant on its working waterfront, it is necessary to protect and shape the port for a prosperous and sustainable future, while protecting the surrounding community.

At the edge of the Providence River at Fields Point, energy giant Shell Oil’s marine fuel terminal stands as a symbol of the tension between the fossil fuel past and the hope of a cleaner future for the port and its people. The Conservation Law Foundation, in a lawsuit against Shell, argues the terminal is highly vulnerable to rising seas and worsening storms—and could release toxic pollutants into Narragansett Bay. Shell has responded to the accusations by trying to get the case thrown out and dismissing the claims. 

Community efforts focus on big-picture climate resilience, tackling the need for clean energy in partnership with groups such as CLF and Save the Bay. Even alternative energy technologies can be contentious. Sharon Billington of Providence, who calls her home the “smallest state with the biggest heart,” says wind turbines are controversial in a city devoted to historic preservation and its natural views. She said the turbines are “much less disruptive than one might think, and bring a lot of benefits… but you’re going to get a lot of debate and back on forth on the best way to conserve.”

As the effects of climate change worsen in the coming years, proposed solutions such as the Envision Resilience project are working to reimagine communities. For example, Rhode Island School of Design landscape architecture students were inspired by one of the most transformative animals in nature to reimagine the port.

Inspired by the cocoon, students Hannah Wells, Jieqi Yao and Joyce Shen reimagined a self-sustaining community. This proposed community can “utilize existing community assets and evolve over time in alignment with a new future that manages sea level rise in ways that reimagine water for the benefit of the community.”

Wells’ team suggested that the working waterfront is moved from its existing location, and condensed to free up land for the proposed wetland. The team also noted that because the wetlands will flood over time, the remnants of the previous industrial buildings can be transformed into a hilly landscape that will change over time as the sea level rises. “Using impermeable caps and by instituting plants the restore and remediate the site of its many toxins, the wetland will be harmonious for human activity and wildlife alike.”